1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for printing. More particularly, this invention relates to methods and apparatus for formatting multi-page documents for printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A print shop, such as a commercial printer or corporate printing department, typically prints multiple pages of a multi-page document on one or more press sheets, which may then be assembled, folded, cut and bound to form a final document. The specific operations performed on the printed press sheets (e.g., how the press sheets will be folded and cut, and the type of binding that will be used) are commonly called finishing operations. Prior to printing, a process called imposition typically is performed to determine the layout of the individual document pages on the press sheets. The imposition layout, often called the imposition flat, is determined based on the size of the press sheets, the desired finished size of the document and the various finishing operations that will be performed on the printed sheets.
An exemplary imposition flat for a two-page document is illustrated in FIG. 1. Exemplary imposition flat 10 includes press sheet 12 and pages 14a and 14b of the desired document. Press sheet 12 may be a 20″×15″ sheet of paper, and pages 14a and 14b each may have a finished size of 8.5″×11″. Imposition flat 10 also may include various alignment and identification marks, such as bleed marks 16, trim marks 18 and sheet registration marks 20. The specific locations on press sheet 12 of pages 14a and 14b, bleed marks 16, trim marks 18 and sheet registration marks 20 typically are determined based on the size of press sheet 12, the finished size of pages 14a and 14b, and specific finishing operations to be performed on the printed sheets.
An imposition flat, such as exemplary imposition flat 10, may be created manually by a person familiar with the operation of the equipment that will be used to print and finish the print job. More commonly, however, imposition flats are generated using imposition software programs, such as Fiery® DocBuilder Pro™ software by Electronics for Imaging, Foster City, Calif., U.S.A. An imposition software program may operate on a personal computer, laptop computer, computer workstation, print server, or other similar computer device. After a user provides the imposition software with page data for the desired output pages, and specifies the sheet size, finished output size and desired finishing operations, the imposition software generates an imposition flat, such as imposition flat 10.
For commonly recurring page layouts and finishing operations, many imposition software programs allow a user to create imposition templates, which are electronic representations of imposition page layouts, but without actual page data. The imposition templates subsequently may be applied to a print file containing the actual page data to create an imposition flat. In particular, a user typically submits a print file to the imposition software, selects a desired imposition template from a database of predefined templates, and the imposition software then generates the imposition flat that may be used to print the document.
An exemplary imposition template is illustrated in FIG. 2. Exemplary imposition template 20 specifies the size of press sheet 22 and the finished size of pages 24. In addition, imposition template 20 may include bleed marks 28a, trim marks 28b and sheet registration marks 28c (collectively referred to herein as “mark objects” 28), binding edges 30, and the locations of such objects on sheet 22. The locations of pages 24, mark objects 28 and binding edges 30 typically are specified in terms of two-dimensional coordinates, such as (x,y) coordinates. Once imposition template 20 has been created, the locations of pages 24, mark objects 28 and binding edges 30 typically are fixed.
In numerous instances, a print shop receives a new print job that has a finished page size that does not correspond exactly to the finished page size specified in a preexisting imposition template. For example, a print shop may have preexisting imposition template 20 designed for letter size (8.5″×11″) pages, but may receive a new print job having custom page sizes (e.g., 8″×12″). Alternatively, a print shop may have a preexisting imposition template that matches the finished page size of the new print job, but the template specifies a press sheet size that may only be used on one piece of equipment in the print shop. If the specified piece of equipment suddenly goes down for repair, the print shop may not have other print equipment that may be immediately used to complete the new print job. For example, although the print shop may have other print equipment that uses an alternative sheet size that may accommodate the print job, the preexisting templates for that sheet size may not match the print job's finished page size.
In both instances, the print shop typically must create an entirely new imposition template for the new print job. To do so, the print shop may start from scratch, and use an imposition software program to create the template. This may be a very time-consuming process, however, and may cause a delay in printing the print job. In particular, if the print job is a rush job, the time required to generate the custom imposition template may cause the print shop to miss a required deadline for completing the job. Also, if the operator is inexperienced in template creation, the newly created imposition template may include numerous errors that further delay job completion and increase the total job cost.
Alternatively, rather than creating a new imposition template from scratch, the print operator may attempt to manually edit a preexisting template to accommodate the new print job. For example, the imposition software program may permit a user to import a preexisting imposition template, and then manually modify the locations of one or more of pages 24, bleed marks 28 or trim marks 30 based on the new page size. If the preexisting imposition template includes a large number of pages per sheet, however, (e.g., 16 pages), this may require a substantial amount of time, and may be prone to operator error, resulting in delay and added cost.
Further, it may be undesirable to continually create new imposition templates for every new print job. Indeed, the proliferation of imposition templates often creates an unwieldy data management problem for many print shops. In particular, if a print shop employs numerous print operators, it is not uncommon for each print operator to create their own personal set of imposition templates, named according to the operator's individual naming convention. In a large print shop that employs a large number of print operators, the print shop may have a database of a very large number of imposition templates. As a result, when a print operator attempts to locate a specific imposition template for a particular print job, the operator may waste a considerable amount of time searching the database to locate the correct template.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus to allow a preexisting imposition template to be used with a document having a finished page size different from the finished page size specified in the preexisting template.
It further would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus to automatically modify a preexisting imposition template for use with a document having a finished page size different from the finished page size specified in the preexisting template.
It additionally would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus to reduce the number of imposition templates that must be created and maintained for printing print jobs having varying finished page sizes.